18 Months Old!!

February 5 - March 4

Ok, so I'm a little behind with this post. I'm not going to backdate it because quite frankly, I don't care too much at this point. :) We had Cael's 18 month appointment on Tuesday (a week ago), and I'm proud to report that my son is the size of an average 2 year old!! Well, height-wise anyway. The little stinker grew 2.5 inches over the course of 2 months, measuring in at 34 inches! We knew he must have been going through a growth spurt last month, but jeez! That puts him at the 90th percentile for height by his age. As far as his weight goes, he's only gained a pound, weighing in at 25 pounds (which is the 40th percentile). But that's perfectly fine, considering the kid is all over the place!! He's climbing on everything, running everywhere, lifting anything. The boy is crazy. As long as he had a growth spurt, I'm happy.

He's still behind in speech, but once again, the doctor wasn't concerned. She said that he's not showing any signs of developmental delays, and he can understand what we say and tell him, so we should just give him more time. Boys tend to be slower with talking, and faster with everything developmental. Our next appointment is when Cael is 2 (holy crap!!), so she said if he's still not speaking much/forming sentences, then she'll refer him to a speech therapist. But until then, we're not concerned.

For a while now, I've felt that Cael has an umbilical hernia. He has an outie belly button, and I understand that. But because I'm that weird mom, I would poke at his belly button, and try and (gently) push/poke it in. Of course, just playing around. And when I do that, it feels like something is there that gets pushed in, and it feels "squishy", if that makes sense. Plus, his belly button, in general, protrudes further out than I think an outie should. So we asked the pediatrician about it, and sure enough, he does have a small umbilical hernia. She said it's not something to worry about now at this age, but if in a few years it hasn't fixed itself, then he'll need to have it surgically repaired :(. She said that as children grow, their abdominal muscles tighten and develop, so umbilical hernias at this age usually repair themselves. Here's to hoping that Cael's fixes itself over the next few years.

Big-boy bed!

We ordered the toddler rail for Cael's crib back in February. It finally came in and we picked it up 2 weeks ago. We figured we could order it now, since it took a while to come in (up to 8 weeks!), and see if Cael was ready for the toddler bed. So this past Friday, we converted Cael's crib into a toddler bed. It was a very hard moment for me, but I dealt with it. We thought maybe it was time for a "big boy" bed. Well, I guess we were wrong. The first night, we had to put Cael back into the bed several times before he finally crawled back in himself and fell asleep. Nap time on Saturday was non-existent until I laid down with Cael in our bed, and we both napped. Sunday was the same thing with his nap. Saturday night was a little better, so I thought this was working out. Well, basically, Cael isn't ready.

Enjoying a lollipop - or 2 - after his shots

Yesterday and today, Matt was out all day with Cael, so he didn't get a chance to try nap time in his bed. Come Tuesday night, Cael fell asleep after putting him back in bed a couple of times, but then he woke up screaming at about 10. He was standing, in the dark, right at the bedroom door, and as soon as I picked him up, he clutched me so tightly. He was terrified. Enough was enough, I'm not forcing him to do something he's not ready for. So I had Matt and our friend do an emergency transition of the bed back into the crib, while Cael and I laid in my bed and I nursed him to calm him down. Those boys had that crib together in 5 minutes flat! As soon as I put him in his crib, he was out cold. I guess the crib is what he wanted. It's ok. In fact, I'm perfectly ok with it. :)

My Valentine's Day gifts

Valentine's Day was last month. I had the sweetest surprise when I got home from work the day before Valentine's Day. Turns out, Matt and Cael went out and bought Mommy some gifts. Even though Matt and I decided we wouldn't. Matt also had Cael finger paint me a picture. I LOVED it! Matt and Cael also bought me a beautiful orchid (add 3 ice cubes a week to water), 2 Yankee Candle candles, and 2 of the sweetest cards - one from Cael and one from Matt. It was so sweet. And surprisingly, I haven't killed the orchid yet.

Last month, we also took Cael to the library for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised with how amazing our library is. It was built in 2010, and it's all updated and "green". Not to mention is has an awesome children's section! I was so surprised, and Cael LOVED it. They have wooden puzzle-type games (if you will) on the walls, and children's books everywhere. Cael really enjoyed walking around, pulling out books, and flipping through them. I am so happy that Cael loves books so much. It makes me proud.

Enjoying a book at the library. Especially a truck brook.

The two most important boys in my life